New Wronging

 I've given up posting on Social Media and suddenly find myself 45,000 words into my next novel. How's that for a salutary lesson in holding onto your intellectual property instead of gifting it to cage fighting billionaires, who wouldn't understand your jokes as they've wasted their lives earning money. 

I started writing this book maybe five years ago and abandoned it. That's a bit melodramatic. I just  stopped writing it. It was the story I was engaged with while I was "Artist In Residence" at The Mac, which seems like a very long time ago. Because it was. I stopped writing it when I stopped being Artist In Residence. It seemed like a natural point to bring it to an abrupt conclusion. 

But I throw nothing away, and I went back to it and was gripped. Enough time had elapsed for it to feel like someone else had written it. I really wish they'd finished it though, because now I have to. 

It's a strange book. It's about urban alienation, loneliness, powerlessness. It's also full of folk horror tropes and peopled with ghosts. I remain fascinated by ghosts. I've seen two and I still don't believe in them. A ghost would have to beat me over the head with a rolled up copy of the Fortean Times to make me believe. I'm like bone-headed archaeologist Dana Andrews in "Night of the Demon" - eventually you're just screaming at the screen: "What does it take, Dana? He just summoned a storm. Look, there's a demon RIGHT THERE. It's behind you."

But ghosts for me are the great metaphors. They're wrapped up in time, in memory, in permanence and impermanence. To be a sentient ghost - what can that mean? What can your life be like if you're post-corporeal. Is it like the first day at school? Are you shown the ropes? What's the hierarchy, or is there one? The afterlife may prove to have a very flat team structure. What are ghosts made of? How do they work? How does a ghost see? They might be metaphorical, but I do like the idea of ghosts as things, especially because I don't believe in them. Despite having seen two. 

Anyway, I have lots of ideas and I'm 20,000 words from the finish-line. I'm going to finish this thing.